Pork Latte with Chicken Breast Topping... Bizarre New Menu at Chinese Starbucks for 13,000 Won

Starbucks has launched a pork-flavored latte coffee targeting the taste preferences of Chinese people who love pork, in celebration of the Lunar New Year (Chunje·春節), CNN reported on the 20th. Starbucks, which released this latte, named it the "Prosperous Year Delicious Latte." The price of the latte is 68 yuan (about 12,600 won) per cup. According to the ingredients listed on the Starbucks delivery app, this drink is a mixture of Dongpo pork braised sauce, espresso, and hot milk. Additionally, pork sauce and pork breast meat can be added.

The latte photo posted on Weibo by the Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery shows pork sauce sprinkled on the latte foam, with thin slices of pork skewered on a stick placed on top.
[Photo by CNN]

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The photo of the latte posted on Weibo by the Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery shows pork sauce sprinkled on the latte foam, with thin slices of pork skewered on a stick placed on top. Starbucks said on Weibo on the 5th, five days before the Lunar New Year, along with this photo, "Eating meat symbolizes prosperity for the year. This latte introduces traditional New Year customs into coffee and creates an unexpectedly savory and sweet taste." Dongpo pork, a braised pork dish, is often mentioned as a traditional Chinese New Year food, and the flavor and aroma of this Dongpo pork were made into a sauce and added to the latte.

Starbucks' pork latte quickly attracted attention, recording over 476,000 views on Weibo immediately after its release. However, some users questioned the price of the drink, wondering why people would drink a latte instead of eating real braised pork at the same price. One netizen responded, "For 68 yuan, you can eat a plate of braised pork and then go to Ruishi (a Chinese coffee franchise) to drink two lattes." Another netizen said, "Having pork and coffee both in my stomach at the same time is fine, but having them together in my mouth is not."

According to a report released by the World Coffee Portal in December last year, China was the largest branded coffee shop market in the world. In particular, Starbucks opened 785 stores in China in 2023. For Starbucks, China is the second-largest market globally and the number one overseas market, making it a very important market. Accordingly, Starbucks is introducing various drinks targeting the Chinese market, such as new flavors inspired by New Year rice cakes, including jujube macchiato and almond tofu macchiato, across China as part of the February holiday theme.

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